Top Pitching Performances Over The Weekend, June 29-July 1

Presented here are the top 10 pitcher game scores from weekend series, June 29-July 1.

TOP 10 GAME SCORES BY PROSPECTS IN THE MINORS • JUNE 29-JULY 1

PITCHER

ORG

TEAM

LEAGUE

LVL

IP

H

R

ER

SO

BB

GS

Matt Harvey

NYM

Buffalo

International

AAA

7

2

0

0

9

1

81

Nick Tropeano

HOU

Lancaster

California

HiA

8

5

1

0

9

2

77

Casey Crosby*

DET

Toledo

International

AAA

7

1

0

0

4

4

75

A.J. Cole

OAK

Burlington

Midwest

LoA

6

3

0

0

9

0

75

Jefferson Olacio*

CWS

Bristol

Appalachian

R

6

2

0

0

7

0

75

Will Smith*

KC

Omaha

Pacific Coast

AAA

6

3

0

0

9

1

74

Adrian Houser

HOU

Greeneville

Appalachian

R

6

3

0

0

8

0

74

Yordano Ventura

KC

Wilmington

Carolina

HiA

5.2

3

0

0

10

1

73

Matt Shoemaker

LAA

Salt Lake

Pacific Coast

AAA

8

6

0

0

5

2

73

Daniel Corcino

CIN

Pensacola

Southern

AA

8

5

1

1

7

2

73

*Lefthander

• Triple-A Buffalo righthander Matt Harvey struck out nine Louisville batters on Friday, pushing his season strikeout total to 96 (good for second place in the International League) and notching a season-high 81 game score. His previous best: a 74 against Lehigh Valley on April 25 (seven innings, four hits, no runs, five whiffs). The 23-year-old Harvey quietly had a fine month of June in Triple-A, going 2-2, 2.45 in six starts with 40 strikeouts, 14 walks and 29 hits allowed in 33 innings. His fastball sits consistently in the 93-94 mph range and his slider has made strides since his amateur days, and Harvey can throw it in the low 80s as a backdoor breaker to lefties and dial it up to 86 mph as a chase pitch versus righties.

• The Double-A Pensacola pitching staff leads the Southern League with 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings, and with a rotation headed by Daniel Corcino, Tony Cingrani, Kyle Lotzkar and J.C. Sulbaran it's easy to see why. Cingrani notched 15 strikeouts his last time out for the Blue Wahoos, and Corcino followed on Friday with a strong eight-inning performance in which he allowed one run on five hits while striking out seven. Corcino surpassed that 73 game score only one other time this season, when he recorded an 88 on June 16 when he completed eight no-hit innings.

Top Performance By A Prospect-Eligible Pitcher Outside His Team's Top 30

Triple-A Tacoma righthander Andrew Carraway, a Mariners 12th-rounder from Virginia in 2009, threw a two-hitter against Fresno on Saturday, facing just 29 batters. One of the two hits the 25-year-old Carraway allowed was a Todd Linden solo home run, however, so his final line was one run allowed, seven strikeouts and zero walks. With an 86 game score, Carraway moves into a tie for third place on the top Triple-A game scores of the year.

Noteworthy Performance In Short-Season League Play

Diamondbacks righty Blake Perry tossed a nine-inning complete game for short-season Yakima on Saturday, allowing three hits and one run while striking out five. The 20-year-old, a sixth-round pick in 2010, got knocked around in the Midwest League this spring (8.10 ERA, 19 walks in 13 innings), but he's been sharp in the Northwest League thus far, notching a 16-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 15 innings.

Worst Game Score By A Prospect

While Josh Reddick and Miles Head enjoyed monster first halves in the Athletics system following the December trade that sent them from Boston to Oakland, 19-year-old righthander Raul Alcantara has had a rougher go of things. He lasted just four innings in his start for low Class A Burlington on Sunday, permitting 10 runs (seven earned) while allowing nine hits and two walks. That worked out to a game score of 11 for Alcantara, who has a 39-to-30 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 74 innings this season.

Bill James' game score calculation (Wikipedia entry) rewards pitchers who work deep into games without allowing many runs or hits while providing extra credit for dominance (strikeouts) and control (few walks).